Information technology & cybersecurity policy

Facial recognition (FR) technology was long considered science fiction, but it is now part of everyday life for people all over the world. FR systems identify or verify an individual’s identity based on a digitized image alone, and are commonly used for identity verification, security, and surveillance in a variety of settings including law enforcement, commerce, and transportation. Schools have also begun to use it to track students and visitors for a range of uses, from automating attendance to school security. FR can be used to identify people in photos, videos, and in real time, and is...

Large language models (LLMs)—machine learning algorithms that can recognize, summarize, translate, predict, and generate human languages on the basis of very large text-based datasets—are likely to provide the most convincing computer-generated imitation of human language yet. Because language generated by LLMs will be more sophisticated and human-like than their predecessors, and because they perform better on tasks for which they have not been explicitly trained, we expect that they will be widely used. Policymakers might use them to assess public sentiment about pending legislation,...